Nikon Z7 sample gallery updated from New York and Japan

We've just returned from two launch events for Nikon's new Z system - one in New York, and one in Tokyo. After spending a little more time with two more pre-production cameras, we've updated our previously published samples gallery.

After many times looked the Nikon Z7 and thr Canon R I realized why the Nikon photos are strange a bit for my eyes. If somebody look carefully all the Nikon photos always a very little shake/blur is on the photos. I suspect is coming from the shutter mechanism or whatsoever. But the Canon photos are sharp, crisp and calm for the eyes. I can take better photos with my D5600 :)

new Nikon Z7 horizontal landscape dark banding may due to new on-sensor pdaf pixel rows added to live-view pdaf sensor

Nikon Z7 dark banding appears perfectly straight in pure raw raw DNG

"cooked/baked" raw w/lens distortion pre-corrected (built-in), all jpegs (yes, even w/beta ACR 11) still shows the dark banding, as well as ooc jpegs, except they are NO LONGER as straight, and slightly obscured by noise or NR artifacts

I have a strange feeling that Nikon has released Z6 and Z7 as a sacrificial lambs. They knew from the start about their limitations ( focus, single card, weak battery, insufficient buffer ) but decided to go nevertheless . Why ? Well , they know that most buyers out there are very reluctant to buy ANYTHING which is supposed to represent FIRST GENERATION. So, I would expect that in less than 12 months time there would be another launch which will address SOME of the criticism. Nikon knows that to successfully compete with Sony it has to upgrade their equipment much more frequently . Maybe that is why the bulk of new lenses is scheduled for 2020 !!! The perfect timing for the 3rd Generation. THIRD TIME LUCKY :)

Thematic ...I think they are warming up ! Sensing the market , the comments etc. Their main thrust is planned for 2020 when also their dedicated pro lenses are scheduled to arrive. For now it is mostly for hot headed gear maniacs who love to get the newest and brightest. As the saying goes...Good things come to those who wait... ! :)

Reading all the comments regarding the sample gallery , maybe it wouldn't be such bad idea to shoot couple of the same subjects with D850 and Z7 using the same lens on both cameras. This would give us opportunity of comparing apples with apples...

IMHO there's no contest. Pentax KP samples were done professionally, with all details retained at the expense of (some) noise. Crisp. Even that ISO 64,000 baseball shot looks usable. Showcase of a very, very respectable performance.

Z7 gallery? Almost everything at ISO 1,000+ has such a quality (plastic, smeared look) that, should it appear in a smartphone gallery, it would be torn to shreds in the comments.

I don't know how big was contribution of pre-production gremlins (maybe heavy NR could not be switched off? AF/IBIS woes?...), but this gallery is a disservice to the Nikon Z. Image composition sucks, too.

KP's sensor/processing cannot compare to the sensors/processing in D850 and Z7. KP's gallery is also more staged, much more flattering light and compositions. But that is a distracting point: the KP would break in the same environments and conditions where D850 and Z7 shine.

Actually, the KP, like nearly all Pentax offerings - DSLR's in particular, are built very well, both rugged and weather-sealed. So you don't know much about Pentax if you're claiming it would break in the same environment. I can assure you, it would not.That said, I can't wait for some other reviews to start happening with these 2 new Nikon's; with some actual PRODUCTION models. And some comparisons - against the 850, the Sony's: A7R III and A7 III, and against the Canon 5D Mk IV.

Nothing special so far, it's all a hype and marketing....i"ll stick to my old Lumix FZ1000 and the LX10/15, not a full frame and lots of DOF, but I still love them. Not worth the EUR 3000 plus. If I go for FF then I will search for a good Canon 5Dmk2, that will do the trick for me.

I'm seeing the same old soft corners on these purportedly sharp edge to edge new lenses, both the zoom and the 35 on the few sample pics attempting full frame acuity. The DPR crew as usual was unable to find a mountain in the greater Seattle area to test out a typical Nikon ISO 64/f7.1 landscape shot, or even provide the standard daylight Space Needle shot from the roof. Maybe the next go round...

So being pre-production, does that mean that one can't do some regular/standard shots with them? Like a city skyline at twilight and after dark? Or some of the ubiquitous shots to be had in and around Seattle? Pike's Place Fish Market? The Space Needle and some of the cool buildings found at it's base? The skyline with Mt. Rainier in the background? Or do people think these 2 models won't be used for landscapes/cityscapes and/or architecture?

A little bit shocked by these - the higher ISO shots are just awful and even those closer to base are exhibiting some noise/artefacting.

Hoping this is not indicative of final release quality which I was expecting to be at least in line with the D850 which so far as I can tell [I don't have one] is just about the best DSLR ever made. I just have to question what's going on here - IQ must match their own DSLRs and Sony's mirrorless to compete.

Image quality will be more or less the same as the D850's, indeed. I think when the cameras are out in the wild and Adobe adds Lightroom/Camera Raw support, it will transpire that whatever problems the Zs may have (AF, battery life, QC issues, firmware bugs etc etc), fundamental image quality will be spectacular.

I wouldn't expect the same performance for the same sensor between a DSLR and a mirrorless camera, the mirrorless sensor is always running and so never have the time to cool down. Look at Sony E mount cameras, their DSLR Nikon and Pentax counterparts have always better dynamic range and lower noise for the same sensor (A7R vs D800/K-1, A7 vs D600, A6000 vs D3300/k-3 etc..).

Lyff - true, but with decent heat sinking the difference shouldn't be massive. I think you'll find the new Nikons will have exceptional image quality, with the Z7 being about the same as the D850, give or take a pinch. What I want to see is just how good those new lenses are and - flip side of the same coin - the advantages of the larger mount.

to be fair to Barney the lighting arrangement at the Nikon event was just awful. Nikon seriously slipped up there, you would think Nikon would put a bit more effort into the launch of a major new camera series.

There were two events - I was at the Japanese one. My shooting was done in an interesting mixture of direct overhead sun, low artificial interior light (and a mixture of those two things), very low artificial interior light, and nighttime.

In the description all the images are shoot with a pre production camera, but after downloading and looking into exif itself, the newer ones shot on 25'th August have the Ver.01.00 firmware in contrast to the Ver.00.51 from the previous samples.

Mirrorless allows for designers to avoid the (severe) retrofocus requirements for wide angle lenses. The telephotos or long focus lenses are not affected. The wide flange was to accomodate for the old wide angle lenses. I am sure there are other advantages.

I have been waiting for a mirrorless camera from Nikon for years, and I considered the Sony. Part of the problem was the adapter, and I think Nikon's adapter is best--my thoughts.

These look like they could have been shot with my old Nikon D70 - blocked shadows, blown highlights. Perhaps these were captured by someone on the Sony payroll to pull back on the WOW factor to make potential buyers rethink their desire to own one. Overall, I suspect the camera has far more potential for great photography than what this batch of mostly mediocre pictures illustrates 🤔

Did you name your D70? I suggest you name your camera "Ladies and Gentlemen". So when you go out, you may say, “This is my camera, Ladies and Gentlemen.” Everyone should know about your D70! And, when the camera slips out of hand, you cry, “Ladies and Gentlemen, please!”

Whenever I read DPR readers aggressively critiquing images I usually take it with a pinch of salt. Not today.

What a strange gallery. Some of the photos are truly awful and detract from the overall portfolio. I am sure some conspiracy theorists will believe this was done to help the sales of Sony...

What is image 7 doing anywhere near a DPR gallery? Grainy, blown highlights, no subject matter, no compositional value and just ugly. It looks like an old phone snapshot that was sneaked in.

Image 21 is a mess too. It is poorly framed so why include it?

There are some shots that show off the camera's capabilities with super sharp eyes in portraits, but so many photos are unimpressive as they have no artistic merit or are poorly framed, poorly lit or just poor quality. This gallery needs serious editing. If I were Nikon I would be on the phone complaining about your editing choices.

Well, it's showing you what the camera can do in a situation of near-darkness. (check the metadata) as well as showing you that the IBIS system allowed me to handhold a 35mm lens at less than 1/fl.

You do realise that we're not just setting out to make cameras look good, right? Otherwise we'd shoot everything at base ISO on a tripod, with reflectors and filters, with post-processing filters applied. That's really not what these galleries are for.

Barney, I get that totally. But the 3 Japanese images I have mentioned do the camera no favours and they really aren't your best or close to. There is no obvious subject or point of focus for a start. Wouldn't it have been better to get a bit closer to one of the people there and get a head shot at high ISO? I just think these are photos most people would discard rather than use to show the capabilities of a new camera.

Some of the photos are really good, why not use the best 30 say, rather than display 250 many of which are poor?

OT I know, but I would love to sit down with Barney over a beer and ask him a question that has been on my mind for ages..

"How does he cope with working in an environment ( the internet ) which has so many frothing at the mouth, swivel-eyed, trolling lunatics in it, without wanting to throw his computer out of the window and scream in frustration?"

Just a thought. This Nikon launch has really unleashed the crazies. And we will have to endure it all again when Canon launches something new.

No he is an influencer and a editor - I wouldn't exactly call him journalist or DPR doing journalism.

DPR is not doing any journalistic work. They receive sample cameras and write over them. Any interview is always full of poor questions that never really endeavour the person that is being questioned. There is no deep interview, no deep research. Only a subliminal reviews where one camera company can receive a silver reward and the other a gold reward while they have the near same problems. They may be objective in their own opinion though.

The first thing I saw this morning when I woke up was a Facebook message to my personal FB page in (I think) icelandic, calling me a f**king idiot (thanks Google Translate). There are some very smart people out there, and some extraordinarily stupid ones. Individuals from both camps can be unbelievably rude, especially when they think they're anonymous. I've been doing this for more than 10 years - I'm so thick-skinned that when I go for blood tests these days they have to hammer the needle in. I'm not special - I'm sure that most online journalists feel the same, if only to protect their sanity.

ps, our interviews are all here:

https://www.dpreview.com/features#interviews

If you're wondering whether Fujica's take is accurate. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

Barney Britton Don't worry Barney ! Stanislaw Lem, one of my favourite writers, once said ..."I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet. " On the other hand the fact that medusa has survived 650 mln years without brain gives hope to millions of people out there...PS Everybody is entitled to his/her opinion but they can do it without insulting other people ...especially when they are doing this anonymously !!! Best Regards Artur Zawadzki

“When they think they’re anonymus”.........I know Amazon has the tools (any “Amazon” has the same), but, as an advice, I would not play with privacy, and try to find out who’s who (things can go sideways from legal perspective).

P. S.: of course nobody is anonymus, just with a variable trace, except the few off-grid (or the others from a completely different grid) .

"I would not play with privacy, and try to find out who’s who (things can go sideways from legal perspective)."

We have some tools for figuring out duplicate accounts, but I really don't care enough to attempt to unmask our trolls. My point being simply that there's really no such thing as true anonymity on the Internet.

So what you have my IP address.That would be a near 5 seconds to find out... all there is to it is to look at the IP address that goes with each and every post. Next to the fact each account comes with a e-mail address that can be easily checked on validity.

No journalistic skills are needed to know who is behind a account.It was no trolling anyway but you seem to be easily on the fence.

Usually, there's room for nitpicking about bokeh, colors, flat rendering. But in this case, the IQ seems downright awful. I'm surprised that DP Review posted these images without some explanation.

The focus often seems off. The IBIS seems off (probably pre-production problem). The compression artifacts are severe sometimes. Exposure is often off. The colors are weird, like a Panasonic (no offense).

We can all understand that these are preproduction issues, but isn't Nikon intending to ship this camera next month??

A horse trots in a movie theatre and the woman, sitting next to him, asks, “Excuse me … are you a horse?”“Well ma'am, yes, I am,” replies the horse.“Goodness, what are you doing at this movie?”The horse answers, “I really liked the book.”

Lol. You were planning to buy this camera but now won’t because of this sample galley?. This just screams hack amateur and you probably shouldn’t buy this camera for the simple fact that you are clueless. Everyone knows that you will pretty much get D850 results with this camera, and D750 results from the Z6. Mirrorless is all form factor. Why do you think buying new camera will improve your photographic output? Sad indeed.

Indeed, as others have said, if you pixel peep that gallery you're going to find problems. It doesn't tell us much though. The fundamental imaging capability is going to be more or less the same as the D850s isn't it, which is to say, spectacular. We need to see RAW files, see just how good the new lenses are, and how reliable the AF system is. For now, all we can say is, that's why you should always shoot RAW...!

@wasTF Canon has horrible samples for their new cameras. Almost like they put the minimum effort in their stills. Their WB particularly drives me crazy.

Mirrorless is not for everyone. I don't enjoy EVF's, going back to video cameras. I've handled a Sony camera but there's no enough there for me to switch systems. It's not that it isn't good for others, it's that there's not enough for me to switch. Not sure what the jpeg quality has to do with handling of a Sony camera. The way a camera handles does not determine the jpeg processing.

Manufacturers always put the preproduction note in order to cover their ass, if something strange or unexpected happens they can say that it was a preproduction model and software is still being polished.

But let's be honest, a camera that has been developed for 3 years and ships next month has little room for improvement on the software. Maybe they issue a firmware update half a year after the introduction but don't expect miracles. 1.0 code could very well be that same code with the version number adjusted to reflect the final product version.

And no, I don't belive they showed the product to the press one month before launch without the lastest and greatest firmware available

We were shooting with preproduction cameras, running FW 0.51 (in Seattle) and FW 1.0 (Japan and New York, last week). I'd expect our experience with FW 1.0 to be pretty representative of shipping models, but none of the cameras we shot with had a serial number. I.e., they were built before mass-production commenced.

It has nothing to do with my talents as a photographer. The simple fact is that the photos coming out of my phone look better than the photos in this gallery, which suck. Now, I'm willing to give Nikon the benefit of the doubt, seeing as they were taken with a pre-production camera. But still, I wouldn't expect Nikon to loan out a pre-production camera for a first look article if it didn't perform close to a production model. We'll see. But this first gallery is not good sign.

Sony is actually a lot better at marketing these. Usually at their events, they have really nice setups to take sample photos. The setup Nikon had at some of their recent events could have been a lot better.

@CanonSharpShooter - Well, that's kind of a "no duh" answer. All the videos say "Pre production Z 7 camera." So the manufactured cameras that are heading to a 20,000 per month rate, are not going to be handed out to reviewers at this point because they can't even meet the demand already and have to apologize for not being able to deliver all pre-orders in September. Canon's pitiful response so far to the mirrorless question should give a fanboy like you pause. I'm saying that as a 1DX user at work. (My first Canon was an AT-1 in September 1978.)

Becasue the want to sell the production models to customers. And just because they are building them now doesn't mean they already have the firmware installed. They don't have to put the firmware in until they box them.

It had not occurred to me that Nikon would be dumb enough to manufacture cameras without firmware loaded. But Nikon is nuts so it makes sense. What a pain, having to load firmware manually rather than automating it. How would you automate loading firmware after the cpu was in the camera?

I hope DPReview does an editorial feature with the new Nikon mirrorless cameras. Apart from being an enjoyable read, the photos in the editorials are usually pretty awesome... at a minimum, they're way less awkward than these launch events.

Seriously... I feel awkward just looking at the models. Forget the camera guys, someone save the models.

Not comparing to cameras I don't know, but these look fine, both the new glass and sensor, and obviously the adapter is working great. That was one piece of the puzzle, and from all reports works flawlessly. Having seen the MFT charts for the new glass, i think people are in for a surprise just how good they are.

It's only overwhelmingly negative by users who haven't used it or only for a short while. DPR has great things to say about it. So do these guys, again all, people who got to take a camera.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwEYaV8WVGo

Is it harder to nail focus with the Z7? It seems like many of the images are close, but either front or back focused a little. I am assuming since these are the best images, that there were many where the focus was just plain off. Is there something about the AF system or the nature of the AF points that is making hitting AF more difficult?

“When Nikon shows cameras to people, things like focusing are not important “ isn’t this problematic when you have people like the Northrup ripping Nikon on YouTube about how crappy the AF is? I’m sure this might cause a few less preorders they might have got if the AF worked properly at the get-go.

Nikon has some great tech, but canon is a better "showman" than nikon. They hyped up the camera and "released" it while they are still apparently not done with the software. Software is everything here. OOC jpegs = software, AF performance = software, operating speed = software, camera start up times = software, power management = software.

Get the point???

Right now we only have an indication that AF is speedy, the general UI and interface design, and the body/grip/EVF. Take the software out of any of these mirrorless cameras and it is just a paper weight. AF motor fail... lens is completely useless.

I think you get the point. Everyone needs to be patient for the final release, and even then it might take FW 1.2 before it is what we expect.

Note canon is saying nothing. They announce and release when ready. Even if not the best on paper, they do have the polish down (generally).

Ok, I know it's very early, but I'm looking to see if the sensors in the Z bodies suffer the same stripe artifacts that various Sonys do. Logically, they should. However, it's a pretty quirky set of circumstances that would make it visible. Although I do see some horizontal line correlations, I haven't seen any obvious PDAF stripes yet. Has anyone?

Just to be clear, PDAF stripes would be fixable just as they are in the Sonys -- I just am trying to confirm that the cause is masked pixels in main-sensor PDAF. We might have to wait for raws to really see this issue....

If that is the best it can do, I feel sorry for anyone spending $4,000 on this camera and lens. It looks worse than any resent APS-C camera with a decent lens on it for less than half the price. I am not sure why it looks THAT bad (sensor or lens, or both), but that is totally unaceptable IMO. I don't think even a GREAT photog could have made that picture look any better with that combo.

You give a camera to someone that is used to snapping pics on a cellphone and guess what you are going to get: cellphone pics. It really says nothing about the camera.Time and time again these sample galleries are demonstrating their uselessness.

Tony Northrup's latest video has already explained that the Z7 has inconsistent focusing issues when using single point focus. It's definitely not user error. However, I think DpReview should wait for Nikon's firmware updates before putting out a sample gallery such as this. This gallery basically kills the Z7 before it even hits the shelf....

also using 1/160s when they have IBIS is not helping, they're pushing ISO too high sometimes for no reason. Since they're jpeg the noise reduction is destroying those pics (even though they look fine at viewing resolution).

You have a canon 5D. Any camera released in the next 3 years would produce better images (even these Z cameras). However... why the hurry if you have been patient so far? Wait for the final firmware update, and perhaps an other update that will probably come a few months after the camera is out. But then canon might announce theirs (hoping at photonika). Then you will have a canon, the A7(R)III and the Z cameras to choose from.

Either way you would have a new mount entirely, and will need to make the choice based on more than just the body.

photomedium,"Time and time again these sample galleries are demonstrating their uselessness."Picture #6 taken at 10000 ISO is a good example of a picture that demonstrate its usefulness to me. So my comment makes more sense than you may think...

Ok... so...1. preproduction camera, firmware & shots2. difficult available light - (artificial)3. OOC jpegs with default noise reduction sky-rocketing (probably) at high ISO4. High ISO 10000 and more in many images (and a lot of noise reduction)5. First time "user" of tis particular camera

What would you expect ?

Note : yes, most camera manufacturers post very thoroughly selected images with a "new product", shot under controlled conditions by very "qualified" photographers. This is not the case here and as such, I find the gallery quite good and rather informative. We'll see all this in the future (weeks) when first "real life" shots will get posted here and there.

If this is the D850 sensor, you can probably hack the file name of the raw NEF to say it's a D850 file then one can process the raw. A similar hack to some past cameras using the same sensor. Anyone tried this?

According to Iliah Borg, the way the data is bundled, the "wrapper" is different than traditional NEF files and so this technique will not work. But Iliah's team already has it figured out and the reports are that Nikon is working well with Adobe on this.

Nikon probably saw this as an opportunity to update the data packaging to a way better suited for future uses. Kind of like what Apple did in adopting HEIF into their iPhone.

It is clear: Z7 with Z lenses outperforms D850 with F lenses. That is something to write home about!The composition and light are not to be judged here: this new camera delivers, technically speaking, amazing results, right out of the box. Even with clumsiest handling and worst of light available at the scene. If this is technically so good, then imagine what your careful photoshoot setup can look like.

What? What are you basing these conclusions on? Out performs the D850 in which aspects? The sample gallery doesn't show anything other cameras in the same price range can't do from my eye. Happy for you to point out something I'm missing.

Yeah, sorry, the good light pics could be from an A6K and no one would know.They look great but so do 5D2 images.

I appreciate DPR supplying the images, but they don't give us any clues as to how good the camera is, fortunately they've also produced very good video reviews outlining all the features and as a result I've come to the conclusion that an A7R3 is every bit as good or better (in terms of IQ and AF handling) for less money using my cheaper existing cards and with a significantly larger lens selection, the redundancy of two cards also (HUGE plus for me).

Bottom line, a Sony 7R3 will perform as well or better for less cost with better lenses on offer.The Nikon seems to have better ergonomics, maybe slightly better EVF? But more exxy and no lenses yet.So if you must buy now, a 7R3 it is.

Same thing as with the Z6 vs the A7. I was ready to jump but I don't want to be confused by some Nikon mirrorless fanboy :)) I think I will go with the A7iii plus the kit zoom, which at $2100 is hard to beat.

Mirrorless has a focus issue that you will run into. The A7III (which I have) may well be rated to -3EV, but don't forget it is hybrid focusing system. So at one point CDAF takes over. Compared to the D850 for exampel that is rated to -4EV, but with FULL PDAF. So when the light gets dim you will find your AF system struggling with the kit (f2.8 at 70 vs f5.6 at 70, for example makes quite a difference). Compared to the GM it is also a steal.

Just saying... Also a reason why I have primes with the system as well.

@lawny13 agree. Optically the Sony kit zoom is very decent, especially for the price. However, when I had my A7 I always wanted the elusive native 35mm 1.8 or f2 that for some unknown reason Sony refuses to release.

And guys... Remember, the old rule/saying still applies. It is all about the lenses.

Assume that nikon is about 1 gen (0.5 gen) behind sony. So what? Manufacturers equal or leap frog each other all the time. It is the way the industry works.

I bought into the sony system, but I hit a wall when it comes to lenses. I would like a 70-200 f2.8. Adapting one is sub-par at best. And the only option they have is the GM which is close to $3k. For shorter FLs I prefer native lenses because in general you can take advantage of the mirrorless size. But for longer FLs, the over all package is big whether you go DSLR or not. So adapting the longer glass is not a big deal.

The nikon and eventually canon will likely offer the options of adapting their DSLR lenses without the performance hit you would get on the sony side. That is huge.

And don't forget weather sealing. Her in rainy Netherlands I wis the A7III had this weather sealing. And I won't hold by breath for sony to ever address this.

Basically when I was on canon, I wanted better glass, and didn't want to pay for those L lenses while on APS-C since the cost vs the not-good-maching-FL didn't justify the purchases. So i wanted to go FF for the better glass.

I didn't expect canon to give me a good 6DII release, so I switched (better DR on the sony side). However, in sony lens I find the lens costs and weight limiting.

I love the 55 sonnar, I was willing to pay that price since it is a FL I use a lot. On top of that I have the tamron. I want a 35 f1.8, and a 70-200, and a 16-35. But cost and size is stopping be from going ahead with it. They are just not FLs I use enough to justify the cost.

It is great for those who want to spend that much for a GM, but on 24 MP I don't see it. If I had the R, maybe I would be willing to spend that money. I would rather adapt the canon 70-200 but that is iffy.

It also rains all the time here. A good weather sealing would have me shooting 50-100% more.

I'm a fan of Sony's lenses, but the 4/24-70 Sony and 4/28-70 Sony aren't great, I have no experience with the Nikon so shouldn't talk, but I'm betting it will be better, perhaps wait, if you can, to test the Nikon if you're after only the kit zoom?

I love the way sony pushed the envelope on tech. I fully get it. But I don't actually like the limitations they have in terms of choice.

GM lenses are designed for no holds barred performance, I get it. At the same time they release the A7III to pull in people into the system, and once you are in you release that you need to get GM, or meh lenses. For example the 50 f1.8. Optically it is nice, but AF on the thing is meh at best.

The 24-70 GM is $2.5k, and the f4 is not worth the money, since the kit pretty much gets you 90% there. The 35 f2.8 is a nice performer, but for that price i wouldn't get it as an f2.8. Heck, having the tammy f2.8 now, it pretty much doesn't justify the cost of any of sony's primes (almost). The 70-200 GM is massive and almost 3k.

So GAS aside, and thinking practically, a good performing AF, and availability to better priced lenses that work well on a 24 MP... I am willing to sacrifice eye AF assuming it will show up later in canikon.

Same goes for weather sealing (when it rains here which is like 50% of the time my camera tends to stay at home), star eater, leaving A-mount users hanging, stopped down focusing without any compromise (I would have preferred an f4 or 3.5 limitation form nikon instead of 5.6, but stopped down focus at f11 on sony is ridiculous without the option to turn it off).

I also find their cop sensor bodies lacking. Canikon are very good as filling in the line up (so is fuji by the looks of it). So long term, I still feel that betting in canikon is a potentially safer thing.

But I am not about to flip flop. My next switch if it happens should be long term. So we will see what canon does. Maybe I will have to wait till the second gen bodies are out, and reassess the situation then.

I hope canon does a better lens release that nikon, and eye AF. They are also likely to have more affordable lenses. If they do... :-D

So I bought the 55 F1.8 years before they came out with the 50 f1.8, so to be it is trivial. Read it had focus issues when it was reviewed and compared to the 50 stm I don’t find it to be great value.

The 85 f1.8... hands down I agree with you fully.

The sigma is massive and heavy.

I have the 38-75 f2.8. So it does make many of the primes that are as slow as it trivial (to me). I was about to get the 28 f2 but the. The Tammy was announced.

But all in all you are mentioning the few I already know about (28 and 85). The 35 is expensive for a f2.8, the f2.8 zooms are all 2k and up. Looks at the options on canon and you see you can save a few K filling in your line up especially when you consider sales and second hand market.

Tamron pulled off the 28-75 f2.8. It is significantly smaller and lighter than the GM and almost 3x cheaper. This tells me since the release of the first A7 Sony COULD have done this but decided not to. They ignore the regular user and go after those who will pay for that size and weight.

Let me put it this way. If canon releases a compareable 2k body, and I pick up a canon adapter for 150, and the 70-200 f2.8 L II that would be about 2000+150+ 1500 = 2650

Sorry, I did mean to type in 3650. I hate typo mistakes that occur often on a phone. The point was to show a comparative values.

The point was that this is just 1 lens. Take 2 GM lenses or 3 etc etc and the price differences quickly add up. Go second hand market for Nikon glass, especially if you have the 24 MP cameras and the difference increases big time.

Besides. You have options adapting Nikon to Nikon bodies that you don’t exactly have on Sony, since you can never be certain about performance. This of course assumes native quality performance of those adapted lenses on the Nikon bodies

I'm going to give @Thoughts R Us the benefit of the doubt and say his response was not bad considering the Nikon fan boys wetting their pants over the Z6 & 7. Especially Peter on Nikon Rumors, and others. All of a sudden, the "flaws" of of a mirrorless camera are ok now that Nikon is in the game. And NO ONE is admitting it!!!

well, yes, now it seems there are a bunch of fanboys claiming this is the best IQ ever seen in the history of humankind. The truth is there is nothing in these samples that cannot be done with a 6Dii, D750 or any other "obsolete" DSLR.

AZheaven, the only "flaw" of the Z system is the presumptuousness of its naysayers, who never even touched the camera, who in their limited knowledge presume what a camera should have to be "successful", and then whip the reviewers and the manufacturers if that does not happen. "They" are the gatekeepers, "they" know the best, only "they" can bless. But their lack of consistency, their incontinence, technological ignorance, biased and inflammatory remarks, only prove the opposite of what they believe. Fact is that Nikon has delivered an amazing new mirrorless system, and ignoramuses are fuming with envy.

Try and compare an ISO 10,000 out of the A7III, to any of the smaller formats. The difference isn’t trivial.

I can comfortably do ISO 10k with useable photos, while On APSC you would likely stick to 3.2k. Probably even less on 4/3, and definitely nothing good out of a phone in similar conditions assuming you can even get your subject in focus and not blurred from motion.

@lawny13, and make sure to do this comparison in the lighting condition that actually requires such high ISO, not some fancy studio lighting or broad day light. the difference in shadow noise between the small M4/3 and any FF is really day and night. same generation technology of course, I know for sure my OMD 10 II produce cleaner image than my 2004 1Ds II at ISO 3200, LOL.

Ya... looked up some samples after posting and yep.. I rather stick to my a7iii for IQ over the D3s.

But the results of that camera is still pretty impressive. Take build quality, responsiveness and such into account, makes it a very very solid camera. Though if I had it, it would sit on the shelf 90% of the time.

Nikon D5 weighs 1415 grams with batteries!More than the Z7 plus kit lens (which is a great lens)! Do we understand now why Sony and Nikon are going towards the FF mirrorless? The FF mirrorless is the closest we can get to the old-school FF film body size ideals. DSLRs have become way, way too big, everyday users started hating them, and I wish we had this technology 20 years ago that would have allowed this sort of downscaling.

Not really, there is M4/3 and there is "real camera" which should be a lot heavier and bigger, in fact, I am not buying the Z7 as yet as I wish the next generation or higher end model is much bigger than this one, I hope.

Either the photographer sucks or the system as it stands is quite underwhelming. Comparing a few of those images, I get *way* better shots in similar situations on the D850. I'm giving Nikon the benefit of the doubt in this case though.

Personally, when evaluating kit I try to aim for shots which contain consistent content (I'll even carry targets with me at times), or if it's unavailable, try to frame certain targets in a similar way to past shots. Even for stuff I buy, and even though I've now moved out of town, I shlep back in to the same places to take test shots. Once I'm done doing that, I can go into photographer mode in the knowledge that I know exactly what it can do, and whether I made the best relative decision.

If you as a photographer-reviewer don't have the talent to bring genuine art into your shots, you can at least try to bring reproducible objectivity to them. Just a thought

The Sony 28-70 kit lens is optically very good. Not $800 lens good maybe, for resolution chart testing, but good enough for 90% of mirrorless shooters -- especially the soccer moms that never come off Auto or P mode. Optically speaking, it's said to be one of the better kit lenses to come out in the last decade.

Actually, it's pretty quick. It's effectively instant, as any modern lens is (in decent light). It would take equipment to measure any difference between the AF speed of this "slow" lens and a "fast" one. It's not going to feel slow to anyone who is contemplating keeping the kit lens as their main lens.

You must be one of those types that complain about 0.02mS access time being slow on one SSD because it's not 0.01mS like the competition, and you overlook the fact that conventional HDDs (which many people still use) have access times around 15mS -- which is 750X as long as your "slow" SSD.

The obvious exception to my "any modern lens" statement is the FE 50/1.8. It does a defocus/refocus thing every time you AF, even if it's sitting on the same focus point as the last shot. It's a little "unh-unh" each time, which would be noticeable and not the instant feel that the 28-70 has.

28-70 OSS is a stellar kit lens. It's dirt cheap, sealed, stabilized, its very light, it's blazing fast and very compact even at 70mm. And it's actually very decent optically. At least on a 12mp A7s sensor. 80% of shots in my gallery are made with it. I love it, because it's very convenient for everyday shooting, exactly what kit lens is for. Even though I have way better optics now in terms of raw optical quality like 24-105 F4.

Everyone, who is bashing 28-70, forgetting one simple thing: Sony cameras are way beyound 24mp and 40+ mp FF models. 28-70 OSS is a great match for, say, A7s/7s mk2 shooter or for a shooter looking for a decent and cheapo long zoom glass on APS-C. Yes, at 24+ mp it's not groundbreaking, but it still works. Friend of mine boughtr A7 III kit with a intention to sell 28-70, but after a week with a glass he kept it. He was very surprised with it's quality and fast AF.

I've shot with pre-production Z 7 bodies now on two occasions, across three very packed days. On each of those days, I've shot mostly stills, with some 4K video and managed in the region of 1200-1600 exposures each day, before the battery was exhausted.

Barney: Thank you for your answer. But for how long did you shoot on each session? On mirrorless cameras, run time is more important than the number of exposures taken, as I'm sure you know. I can grab a Canon M50 and rattle 2,000 exposures in less than an hour and a single battery, but that doesn't make its actual battery life any less pitiful.

Barney Britton wrote: "managed in the region of 1200-1600 exposures each day, before the battery was exhausted."

Seems like what you could expect from other mirrorless cameras with about the same battery capacity when doing real world photography, not following the CIPA routine.

Also, mirrorless cameras should be capable of doing a lot long exposure photography on one battery, like dense ND filter shots/night sky and astrophoto, since there is no mirror that need to be held in the upper position during exposure.

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